So, while The Garlic has, on many occasions, put the musical spotlight on the two people who keep getting in Condi's way - Bush and Cheney, we decided that Condi needed some theme music to call her own.

Friday, February 02, 2007

Well, it seems that we have survived the first two years, reasonably intact.

On one hand, I didn't know if I would keep this going this long. And on the other, it seems like yesterday and there's so much more to accomplish.

But rather than prattle on about one's self, I want to use this occasion to thank all of The Garlic's subscribers, readers, peekers, glancers and readers-on-the-fly, for taking to the time to visit and, when the moment has spurred you, to pass along praise or scorn, whichever befit the moment.

With such a bountiful of riches as The Garlic heads into Year Three, stay tuned. I will endeavor to continue to present the days' best offerings in the most entertaining manner I can muster.

Very recently, The Huffington Post launched a new feature called HuffIt. This allows anyone on-line to post to HuffIt an article or such that you find. It works similar to other sites that aggregate content (such as Digg, Reddit and others).

While HuffIt is still in Beta, they did announce that the post on HuffIt that gets the most "Huffs", they will post it to the main Huffington Post site.

So, if you see something you like on The Garlic (or anywhere else), take it over to HuffIt!

And if you see something from The Garlic on HuffIt!, give it a "Huff".

"It is utterly hypocritical for the NFL to extol the virtues of a color-blind league while officially sanctioning coaches that are based solely on race," said Tancredo.

Tancredo made his threats, to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, after reports the Congressman said were made to him, that freshman Rep. Stephen Cohen (D-TN ) could not join the coaching staffs of either Super Bowl team because he is white.

The Colorado Congressman states he's asked the officials in Miami, officials in Florida, and even has been asked the White House, for some emergency funding and action to erect 7-miles of the 700-mile fence he's called for at the border, outside the Super Bowl.

"They'll be pouring into the Super Bowl," lamented Tancredo, "denying good, hard-working American citizens the chance to take a seat at the biggest game of the year."

On the other hand, can't quite create a quorum of other mainstream news people who have called out the President on his lies as much, or as eloquently, as Olbermann has, either in his normal news reports and with his heralded Special Comments, and he honed in last evening on our Decider, aka Decision-Maker's, State of the Union Address.

(And he does give a nod to David Swanson, press secretary for Dennis Kucinich’s 2004 presidential campaign, "who has blogged about the dubious 96 words in Mr. Bush’s address this year and who has concluded that of the four counter-terror claims the president made, he went 0-for-4.")

"West Yorkshire in England has a new chief police constable.

Upon his appointment, Sir Norman Bettison made one of the strangest comments of the year:

“The threat of terrorism,” he says, “is lurking out there like ‘Jaws 2.’”

Sir Norman did not exactly mine the richest ore for his analogy of warning. A critic once said of the flopping sequel to the classic film: “You’re gonna need a better screenplay.”

But this obscure British police official has reminded us that terrorism is still being sold to the public in that country — and in this — as if it were a thrilling horror movie and we were the naughty teenagers about to be its victims.

And it underscores the fact that President Bush took this tack, exactly a week ago tonight, in his terror-related passage in the State of the Union.

A passage that was almost lost amid all the talk about Iraq and health care and bipartisanship and the fellow who saved the stranger from an oncoming subway train in New York City.

But a passage ludicrous and deceitful. Frightening in its hollow conviction.

Frightening, in that the president who spoke it tried for “Jaws” but got “Jaws 2."

Olbermann proceeded to go into Bush's claims, quoting, first, from the SOTU, then, debunking it with facts, quoting official sources.

At one point, in discussing the Los Angeles Liberty Tower claim, and referencing Roger Cressey, the former staff director of counter-terrorism for the National Security Council, now a news analyst for NBC News and MSNBC, Olbermann illustrated the absurdity.

"In our conversation, he put the “Library Tower story” into a category he called the “What-Ifs” — as in the old “Saturday Night Live sketches that tested the range of comic absurdity:

What if ... Superman had worked for the Nazis?

What if ... Spartacus had had a Piper Cub during the battle against the Romans in 70 B.C.?"

One-by-one, Olbermann hung up President Bush's boasting of foiling terrorism like a pinata, and then whacked away at it, with facts, causing, not candy, but the truth to spill out.

"What you gave us a week ago tonight, sir, was not intelligence, but rather a walk-through of how speculation and innuendo, guesswork and paranoia, daydreaming and fear-mongering, combine in your mind and the minds of your government, into proof of your derring-do and your success against the terrorists.

The ones who didn’t have anthrax.

The ones who didn’t have plane tickets or passports.

The ones who didn’t have any clue, let alone any plots.

But they go now into our history books as the four terror schemes you’ve interrupted since 9/11.

They go into the collective consciousness as firm evidence of your diligence, of the necessity of your ham-handed treatment of our liberties, of the unavoidability of the 3,075 Americans dead in Iraq.

Hollywood is shocked, following the bombshell announcement that actor Isaiah Washington was leaving his rehab early, to come out of the closet and announce, in an ironic and bizzare twist, that he and fellow 'Grey's Anatomy' actor T.R. Knight were getting engaged.

While it may be that eight more people jump into the 2008 Presidential race while I post this, none, to-date, or none-to-follow, will have their announcement so scutinized as Hillary Clinton (excluding Oprah Winfrey) had hers.

Why on Saturday? Why on video? Why, why, why, why, why ...

Hillary Clinton will likely, for the choice of "Let's Chat", hear those words, mockingly and derisively for the remainder of her career (and a healthy dose of "Let's Not Chat" tossed at her along the campaign trail).

Would Bill Clinton have said "Let's Chat?

Ohhhh, here we go ...

The Results - The Garlic's Weekly Poll January 21 - January 27, 2007

The timing of Hillary Clinton's Presidential Campaign announcement, on a Saturday, on the Internet had to do with ...

1. Was just messing around with the video camera and, OOPS, hit the wrong button Tally 32%

2. It was the one day daughter Chelsea was available to upload video to YouTube and MySpace Tally 27%

3. Wanted Sunday free-and-clear to watch football Tally 23%

4. Only competetion on Saturday would be bowling and cooking shows Tally 18%

Fix Iraq

About Me

J. Thomas Duffy created and lauched 'The Garlic in 2005.
Mr. Duffy is an accomplished writer, with experience as a newspaper reporter, radio writer, comedy and stand-up writer, the author of three children's books (unpublished, so far) and, and, through a good number of his writing experience, actually received payment for it.
Mr. Duffy is also a Contributing Editor on the blog, 'The Reaction' and a Contributing Writer to the blog 'The Moderate Voice.
In his spare time, Mr. Duffy likes to promulgate that is actually the dog salivating that caused Pavlov to ring the bell.